Marc's Messages

Young media professionals

Yesterday my friend Don Kirk and Dave Hackett (center) of VisionSynergy paid us a visit. Dave is working on an impressive global inventory of internet evangelism projects, and showed a me an inspiring new dvd with the stories of muslims who found Jesus through dreams and visions. It was good to get to know him. He has been reading Joel News, and offered to connect me to people who can help with the publication in other languages.

Today we met up again, this time in Amsterdam for a first meeting that Martijn Moens and I facilitated for Dutch young media professionals, Christians who want to express the Kingdom of God, using their media and arts skills. We had an inspiring discussion and dream time, and it was encouraging to see that this group was so varied. We'll meet again in November.

As it is in Heaven

Bram Flippo invited me and a few other guys for a viewing of his favorite movie 'As it is in Heaven'. Set in rural northern Sweden, this moving story is about a famous musician who suffers a heart attack, and - because he needs rest - decides to return to the village of his youth. There he starts directing the local choir, helping everyone to discover their own sound, and bringing this in harmony with others. When this happens, people start to blossom and emotions that have been suppressed for decades surface. This leads to a head-on encounter with the local church pastor who wants to keep people in the system. It's a touching movie of people who discover their god-given potential and fly out.

International FAQs

When I travel abroad, there are three questions people always ask me:

1. How tall are you? Answer: I'm exactly 2,00 meters. How much is that in feet and inches? Answer: 6 feet and 6.7 inches.
2. Is your country called Holland or the Netherlands? Answer: both. Officially it's the Netherlands, as Holland is the name of only the two western provinces, but internationally the terms are used interchangebly.
3. What is your age? I never reply to this one, as because of my young appearance people give me on average 28, so I save 11 years. ;-)

Faith late at night

I don't get much sleep here. On the first night I had a talk with Connect friend Gabi about our infamous DAWN meeting in Budapest. On the second night a long conversation with George Otis jr. about podcasting, new documentaries, and the love-hate relationship between transformation and saturation church planting. That was after I burned my mouth on the spicy 'chicken Thailand' that I ordered when I hang out at a local restaurant with the youth guys. Yesterday night a few of us went for a late prayer meeting in which God spoke from Hebrews 11 and 12 about faith.

Many wonderful stories

Over the past few days I heard many wonderful stories of what God is doing today, and caught up with old and new friends from various nations. It was special to see a prayer leader from Russia ask and receive forgiveness for his country's oppression of other nations. A psychologist from Hong Kong explained to me how she performs 'corporate deliverance' on young people, which even erases addictive thoughts from their system. An American business man shared how he developed a large agricultural project in Kenya, that not only transformed the whole community, but also generates over 180 million dollar a year. A prayer leader from Romania related remarkable healings in his country as a result of spending time in God's presence. A brother from Vietnam told us that when intercessors in his nation get caught while ministering in the mountain areas, the people pour boiling water in their mouths, but that they continue their work nevertheless, resulting in whole villages coming to Christ. I will rework some of these stories for inclusion in Joel News.

Intergenerational partnership

Today, together with Etienne Pieck (GDOP), Amaury Braga (DAWN) and Tom Sipling (30KD) I facilitated a plenary session on intergenerational partnership. How to create a climate in which the different generations can optimally synergize? I offered several keys, and illustrated them with some funny movies, which was received well. It stirred passionate prayer and afterwards a lot of good conversations.

Download ways_forward.doc

Appetite for the things of God

We need a clear definition of what we mean with 'transformation', George Otis jr. said, so we know what to focus on and how to measure it. He submitted this article with some helpful guidelines, and stressed that the essence of community transformation is not prayer or some good social projects by Christians, but a shift of allegiance in the spiritual world (Christ replacing idolatry in whatever form). While at the launch of the first Transformations video there were less than 10 known cases of community transformation worldwide, now there are already over 500 documented cases. The common factor in all these cases is a sense of abandonment and expectation.

Four global networks

This meeting in Malaysia is called 'Global Transformational Prayer Summit', because for the first time four global networks that seek godly transformation of the church and society join forces: the International Prayer Council (IPC), the Global Day of Prayer (GDOP), the International Transformation Network (ITN) and the International Fellowship of Transformation Partners (IFTP). A fifth stream, not officially represented, is a group of emerging leaders exploring a possible Connect World liaison. Today all networks gave an inspiring status update, which later led to a time of prayer for the leaders of these networks.

Suffering for the Lord

Guess no-one would believe me if I told them I'm suffering for the Lord in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Believe me, it really is hard work to drink cocktails under the palm trees and swim from one side of the swimming pool to the other. ;-)



It's interesting to hear from the younger leaders here that even though the accomodation and food are great, they would prefer to meet more basic. Somehow the Americans set a standard for international missions gatherings that would make the apostle Paul turn around in his grave...

Having said this, this meeting is quite significant, and I'm glad our friends from South Africa took the effort to bring it all together. As a result, we'll probably spend most of the time inside a conference room and not in the swimming pool. But I can live with that.

Birthday in Sydney

Today is my birthday. I'm used to be on the road around this time, so it's no big deal to miss out on a party. And it's great to enjoy Sydney harbour. In a few hours I will fly to Malaysia, which means it's the first time I 'celebrate' my birthday on two continents.